United Kingdom - Looking forward to a quick holiday across ‘La Manche’ before it gets too busy? Landing in France and knowing you can ride just about anywhere is still rather exiting for most of us however beware as we are now being watched a little closer than normal. Waiting ‘en masse’ in the port of Calais however are the Gendarmes who appear to be paying a little bit more attention to the behaviour of some of us riders ‘inbound’ from Dover. Hypocrites I know! Not that long ago we all thought the French themselves were the scary drivers, in particularly the Parisians; … [Read more...]
A Question Of Identity
United Kingdom – A furious Welsh motorcycling colleague of mine has just telephoned me to say that thieves had stolen 4 rare motorcycles from his almost unique collection of 12 and carried them away would you believe in his recently restored classic Bedford van. It would appear they had simply lifted them through the roof of his garage using a JCB that had itself been stolen locally a few hours earlier. What he was really upset about was that some of his friends had spotted his bikes in pieces at a classic bike event some one hundred miles away and were according to their … [Read more...]
The Wave
Canada - You may have read the following article before but at Motorcycle Minds we have just come across it, where have we been? The article written by Tom Ruttan from what we can gather for "Cycle Canada" in 2002 explores the symbolization of the wave (here in the UK its usually a nod) and the connection between riders that, "if they saw you and your bike on the side of the road, they would stop to help and might not ask your name." With Tom rejoicing when he sees a younger rider on a "crotch rocket" scream past and return a wave - New riders carrying on … [Read more...]
Lawrence of Arabia and the Helmet Law
United Kingdom - “Boa and I took the Newark road for the last hour of daylight. He ambles at forty-five and when roaring his utmost, surpasses the hundred. A skittish motor-bike with a touch of blood in it is better than all the riding animals on earth, because of its logical extension of our faculties, and the hint, the provocation, to excess conferred by its honeyed untiring smoothness. Because Boa loves me, he gives me five more miles of speed than a stranger would get from him”. Original Source: T E Lawrence This 1000cc motorcycle was the prized possession of T E … [Read more...]
Identity Crisis
United Kingdom – With identity fraud on most peoples minds nowadays, we should take comfort in the fact that we are all, quite unique, but I expect we all know that anyway. If we chose to never communicate with anyone ever again, lose our memory or heaven forbid die, someone should be able to find out who we are or were. An amalgam of our age, gender, description, blood, marks and injuries are not definitive but coupled with our teeth, fingerprints and DNA, which are individual only to us, then we are quite simply unique. So to is our motorcycle, providing of course that … [Read more...]
Dim Views
Northern Ireland - A few years ago I wrote a paper in response to an EU Commission “bright idea” to introduce “Daytime Running Lights” also known as “DRL” for all vehicles. The Commission’s objective was to increase the conspicuity of road users in order to reduce road casualties. MAG Response to European Commission Daytime Running Lights Consultation September 2006 pdf 204kb Then, the Commission had put out a consultation paper asking for considered opinions and comments in order to gain support for the proposal. The questions posed were the following: Is the … [Read more...]
Crime and the ‘Ace Café’
United Kingdom - The Ace Café may be a Mecca for the motorcyclist but in 1967 the ‘Ace’ and in particular the Grand Union Canal running behind it, once took on a different & more sinister tale of motorcycling. As you might imagine over the years many apocryphal tales were told about this part of the canal. Stories like the giant hand that emerged from the water and ‘took’ a child who played to close to the edge, or the old war veteran who had seen the grim reaper slowly rowing his boat and "touting" for customers. These stories continued all through the First World … [Read more...]
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